Solar heater.



W. J. BAILEY.

SOLAR HEATER.

APPLICATION FILED APB-.19, 19 09.

Patented Aug. 2, 1910.

r m a a WILLIAM J. BAILEY, 0F MONROVIA, CALIFORNIA.

SOLAR HEATER.

Specificationbt Letters ratent.

Patented Aug. 2, 1910.

Application filed April 18, 1909. Serial No. 480,954.

To all whom 'it may concern:

. Be it known that I W'ILLIAM J. BAILEY, a citizen. of the UnitedStates, residing at Monrovia, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Solar Heater, of which thefol-' lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to solar heaters, and one object of the inventionis to produce a device of this character which will heat the water to ahotter de es than has heretofore been accomplished by like-devices, sofar as I am aware.

A further object is to not only heat the water to a high degree but toalso heatas large a quantity of water as possible in a given time.

A further important objectis to retain the water in heated conditionafter it has been heated.

Briefly, my invention consists in causing the water to circulate throughtubes having thin walls and of relatively small cross section and ofextended length, thesaid tubes being exposed to the suns rays.Heretofore water has been passed through chambers which were exposed tothe suns rays, but

' such chambers were of comparatively large e body of water and capacityand held a lar ength, said chambers were not ofan extended acting'asboth reservoir and heater. In my invention, the water while it is'beingheated is split u into small streams bysmall tubes of consi erable lenth and the tubes are of a good heat conducting material, such as copsothat the small streams of water confined in such tubes are quicklyheated to a high degree. These tubes in my invention being purposelyvery small, do not act as reservoirs, but as heaters'only.

A further detail of my invention consists in employing sheets or stri sof heat conducting material arrange between the tubes and connected withthe tubes so that a comparatively large expanseof a heat conductingmetallic sheet material is sub ected to the suns rays, which sheet ofheatconducting material serves to impart addltional heat to the tubes byconducting the heat, which the said sheet receives, to the tubes;

thereby augmenting the heat which the tubes ous ways and in the.drawings I have shown two forms. I

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 1s a vertical cross sectionthrough-one form of the invention. Fig;,2 is a plan view of the solarheater, the tank being removed. Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross section online w re Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan view in detail, partly in section,showing one method of attaching the tubes to a heater. Fig. 5 is a crosssection on line w.w Fi 4. Fig. 6 is a lan yiew showing another orm ofheater. 'Fig. 7 1s a view similar to Fig. 3, showingaslightlymodified'form of sheets. Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 3, showinganother form of sheets.

In one form of the invention 1 desi ates a box provided with a anel 2for admltting the suns rays to heat t e interior of the box and forretaining the heat within the box.

Within the box 1 is a series of water heating tubes? which have thinwalls and are,

of. relatively small cross section but of extended length. In actualpractice I refer to inake these tubes of about half inc tubing,preferably of copper, as that material is one of the best of heatconductin materials. The tubes are connected inparal e1 to transverseheaders 4 and 5 and communicate therewith. The tubesmay be connected incommunication with the headers in any de- 'sired manner, a preferredmethod bein indicated in Figs. 4- and'5 wherein them 3 pass through astrip 6, the tubes being slightly headed thereover, as-indicated in Fig.5, and a lead gasket 7 being interposed between the header 4 and eachtube 3, the' parts being clamped together b a U-clamp 8 the legs ofwhich passthrogh the strip 6 and are secured by nuts 9.- he and 5 areprovidedfwith orifices 10 which communicate through the lead gasket 7with the respective tubes 3. By making the tubes of very small crosssectional area, as stated,

it is possible to split the body of waterto be heated into a largenumberof small streams within a small compass, and as the walls of thetubes are thin and the streamsof water are small, the water is veryquickly heated by the hot walls of the copper tubes, the latterreceiving the direct rays of the sun. The box is preferably dis osed atan inclination so that the ra s wi headers 4 strike the tubes at themost favora .le angle, and in this form one of the headers is elevatedso that water entering at the lower header, for instance, the header 5,will circulate upward through the tube 3 into the up r header 4.

In order to supply additiona heat to the tubes 3 a series of copperstrips 11 are arranged longitudinall of the tubes and between the tubes,as s own 111 Flgs. 2 and 3, the edges of the strips 3 being soldered orotherwise secured to the tubes in such a manner that an intimate contactis obtained which promotes the conduction of heat from the straps 11 tothe tubes. The strips 11 being of a good heat conducting material, suchas (:0 per, and of a comparatively great area whic is exposed to thesuns rays, become highly heated thereby and the heat which thisexpansive copper sheet receives is directly imparted by conduction tothe tubes 3, thereby imparting additional heat to the tubes'3. The tubesbeing of cop er enable the tubes to be spaced apart an the thin sheets11 placed between them to secure the requisite heat which is a muchcheaper construction than it would be to use a greater number of tubesset close together.

12 indicates a tank which may be located in any desired position andsurrounded by a heat insulating jacket, and rovaded with a supply ipe13, preferably eadmg to the bottom of the tank, as shown, and with a ipe14 through which heated water is drawn off from the tank; The lower endof the tank which contains the colder water is connected by a pipe 15with the lower header 5. The 11 per header 4 is connected by a pipe 16with the tank near its upper end so that thecolder water from the lowerpart of the tank after being heated in the heater sup lied by thepipe'16 to the upper part oft e tank, thereby reducing a circulationofthe water, and t e hotter water in'the tank is suppliedas required foruseby the pi e 14. The copper strips 11 are preferably secured to thelower walls of the tubes,

as shown in, Fig. 3, in order that the greater portion of each tube maylie above the copper gstrips and thus receive the greatest possibleexposure to the sun.

Fig. 6 shows a modified form in which tubes 3 are employed in place ofthe tubes 3, -,the tubes 3? being bent back and forth, as shown, andconnected at their lower ends to a header 5 and at their upper ends to aheader 6; Each leg of each tube is in clined upwardly, as clearly shown,to facilitate the' circulation of water from the header 5 to theheade'r6*. It will be understood that in notice the inclination of the legs ofthe tu es need only be suflicient to produce the drawing the inclinationhas been slightly exaggerated. for illustrative purposes. In

this form it will be noticed that the same which receive the rays fromthe sun.

The heater shown in Fig. 6 may be con uir'ed circulation. In the nectedwith the tank by piping similar to that shown in Fig. 1

Figs. 7 and 8 show of sheets 11, the sheets not being continuous witheach other. Fig. 8 shows the sheets arranged at an angle to secure agreater area of exposure.

What I claim is:

1. A solar heater oomprisin an inclosure with a transparent pane aseries of water heating tubes within said inclosurefsaid tubes being ofrelatively small cross sectional area, and, in aggregate, of extendedlength, and sheets of heat conducting material arranged between thetubes and intimately connected thereto and forming an extended surfaceexposed to the suns rays for imparting additional heat to the tubes.

2. A solar heater comprising a series of copper tubes of extended lengthand of relatively small crosssection, headers at the reslightly modifiedforms spective ends of the tubes in communication with the tubes, andsheets of copper betweenthe respective tubes and in intimate contactwith the tubes, said copper sheets being secured to the tubes at thelower walls ofthe tubes.

4. A solar heater comprising a series of tubes of'extended length and ofrelatively small cross section in communication with each other, thesaid tubes being spaced apart, and sheets of copper between therespective tubes and interrupted at the sun exposureside, whereby onlythe upper surface of the tube is presented to the suns rays.

5. A solar heater comprising a series of tubes of extended length-and ofrelatively small cross section in communication with each other, andsheets of copper connected with the bottom walls of the said tubes forconducting heat to the lower part of the; tube m which the colder wateris, said sheets being in heat absorbing relation to the suns raysforimparting additional heat to the tubes.

Inhtestiimony whereof, I have lereunto .lsletmy an at Los'Angeles,(aliornia it is 1am day of April, 1909.

, WILLIAM J. BAILEY.

In presence ofi G. T. Hammer, Frank L.-

namll.

